It’s Pancake Day, today. I only know this because I follow Jaime Oliver and he posted lots of pancake recipes on Instagram and his website this morning. Go on, take a look, some look amazing!
I’ll take any excuse to make pancakes. I loved the ones my grandmother used to make for us when we were little. For years, my sisters and I have been trying to recreate her recipe, and after many attempts, I’ve finally settled for this version, which started out as Mark Bittman’s Everyday Pancakes.
The goal here is to make pancakes that look more like crêpes, although not as thin. To accomplish this, I’ve increased the amount of milk in his recipe and I also make it imperative to use salted butter, just like my grandmother did.
This recipe makes enough pancakes for two people, but you can easily double it to feed a few more.
Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter, melted and cooled (preferably salted butter)
1 egg
1 ½ cups of milk (2%)
more butter for grilling
Method
1) Heat a small non-stick skillet over medium-low heat. Melt the tablespoon of butter and set it aside to cool down.
2) In a medium bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking powder.
3) Separately, mix the milk with the egg until well combined. Add the melted butter, once it’s had time to cool down.
4) Add the liquid ingredients to the flour mixture and stir to mix. Do not over mix! This is important when making pancakes. It’s okay if you see a few small lumps in the batter. Let the mixture rest for about 5 minutes before making the pancakes.
5) Add some butter to the pan before making each pancake. Once it melts, pour enough batter to just cover the bottom. Too much batter will result in unevenly cooked and thick pancakes. Remember these are more like crepes.
6) Flip the pancake after bubbles rise to the surface and the bottom is a nice golden brown. This will take 2 to 3 minutes. Cook until the second side is lightly browned.
7) Serve with blueberry/strawberry sauce, maple syrup, or fresh berries and a sprinkle of sugar.
Notes:
The pan’s temperature needs to be hot, but not so hot that it burns the butter. If it’s too hot, cool the pan down by rinsing it with cold water before making more pancakes.
After you make a few pancakes, you’ll notice that the batter may be thicker than when you started. This is because the flour tends to settle at the bottom. You can thin it down by adding more milk, being careful not to add too much, or the pancakes won’t turn out the same. If the batter looks too thick, that’s usually my signal that I’m done making pancakes. I rarely use all the batter.
Blueberry Sauce
1 cup of fresh blueberries
2 tablespoons of sugar
1 tablespoon water
a sprinkle of lemon rind (optional)
Place all the ingredients in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for one minute.
Set aside and let the sauce cool down. You can keep this in the fridge for a couple of days. I like to pour it over vanilla ice cream, plain yogurt, and even cottage cheese. You can also use strawberries or blackberries to make this sauce, if there aren’t blueberries in season.
